Gadkari takes up Armed Forces cause, writes to PM

BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh drawing his attention to the demands of retired Armed Forces personnel, including the One Rank One Pension demand. Gadkari pointed out that the UPA government had failed to seriously look into the “genuine grievances” of retired Armed Forces personnel.

Retired Armed Forces personnel constitute a significant support base of the party. The BJP had promised to bring in the one rank one pension rule in its election manifesto apart from induction of retired personnel into paramilitary forces and setting up of a separate pay commission for defence forces.

The BJP chief said, “The UPA government, for reasons inexplicable, failed to pay any serious attention to their genuine grievances.” He asked the Prime Minister to shed his government’s “apathy and indifference” towards the problems of ex servicemen. He said that despite promises and statements made by the Government, the one rank one pension issue had been left unresolved. “Disparities in pensions of the ex servicemen, due to their date and year of retirement, exist even today and the Sixth Pay Commission has done little in this regard.”